2010: Disgraced Oddity

In preparing to organize my goals for 2011 I thought it would be good to look back at the year in retrospect.  It became apparent very quickly in this process that 2010 was no ordinary year in the business.

Part of putting a business plan together is understanding market share and sales dynamics.  As a Realtor, we typically like to see a "seasonal" cycle of low sales in the winter with a gradual crescendo in summer and then a gradual decline into winter again.  It's like a predicable sine wave.

 For fun, I put a chart together that stacks up 2010 against a more traditional year like 2003.

As you can tell 2010 is quite a divergence from a "normal" cycle.  Note that any sales figure below 200 homes is considered a lean winter type month. It was unprecedented for us to see sales this low, this consistently, for this extended of a period of time from July to the present.  And of course that big bubble in the first quarter of the year represents government meddling in the markets via the $8000 tax credit.

I am optimistic that 2011 will be much more predictable and it should be a lot easier putting a business plan together moving forward.

Here's to a prosperous New Year!